On 24th May I spoke to the Biodiversity Festival - it was moderated over a Zoom call and live streamed to Youtube. You can watch HERE. I was talking about an often overlooked aspect of glacier melting that ties in very tightly with the theme of biodiversity. Here's a transcript: We do not usually think … Continue reading Biodiversity Day Talk: Ice Alive
Tag: greenland
Inside the Ice Sheet: Caving expedition
The lockdown has ended all hopes of spring field work this year, so I've been reminiscing about the last time I was out in Greenland, in winter 2018. We were on the ice for a second time to explore the moulins, which are large vertical pipes carved into the ice by melt water in summer … Continue reading Inside the Ice Sheet: Caving expedition
New Paper: Glacier algae accelerate melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet
This week our new paper on the melt-accelerating effects of glacier algae on the Greenland Ice Sheet was finally accepted for publication. This paper was an absolute epic to get through peer-review - I might post about that later - but for now I'll focus on the paper content. I'm really pleased to see this … Continue reading New Paper: Glacier algae accelerate melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Monocle/Rolex “Perpetual Planet” Podcast
On a rainy day in December it was my pleasure to host the team from Monocle to record a podcast as part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Pioneers series. This was the second time I have been interviewed by Monocle (first one here), and both times I came away feeling that the questions were interesting, … Continue reading Monocle/Rolex “Perpetual Planet” Podcast
Upernavik Field Work 2018
2018 saw the Black & Bloom postdocs exploring a new field site in the north western sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet. After two seasons working in the south west near Kangerlussuaq, the team migrated north to investigate dark ice where the melt seasons are shorter and the temperatures lower. We soon learned that there … Continue reading Upernavik Field Work 2018
Ice Alive: Uncovering the secrets of Earth’s Ice
In collaboration with Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Proudfoot Media and I have produced a documentary film explaining the latest research into the surprising hidden biology shaping Earth's ice. The story is told by young UK Arctic scientists with contributions from guests including astronaut Chris Hadfield and biologist Jim Al-Khalili. We went to great lengths to … Continue reading Ice Alive: Uncovering the secrets of Earth’s Ice
Ice Alive: An audiovisual exploration of the Greenland Ice Sheet
As an Arctic scientist I am privileged to be able to explore the coldest parts of our planet, making observations and measurements and helping others to understand how these areas function by writing papers and giving talks, lectures and writing for magazines and newspapers. But to truly understand an environment, we must also explore … Continue reading Ice Alive: An audiovisual exploration of the Greenland Ice Sheet
La Recherche Article: The microbes accelerating glacier melting
I recently published an article in French pop-sci magazine La Recherche about the wondrous microbial ecosystems on glaciers and ice sheets (here for French speakers). For those English speakers who do not subscribe to la Recherche, here is a translation. Also, I strongly recommend the excellent translator who worked on this article with me - … Continue reading La Recherche Article: The microbes accelerating glacier melting
Greenland Aurora
Camping on the ice sheet in September/October was a new experience - I'd never seen darkness on the ice before! The lack of light pollution and cloud-free skies made for a truly spectacular display of the Northern Lights. It was -25C and 35 knot winds pretty much constantly, so it was a constant battle between … Continue reading Greenland Aurora
EGU Image of the Week: Algal blooms on GrIS
A short article I wrote for the EGU blog about biological darkening of ice and snow was posted last month. The article was built around an aerial view of our 2016 field camp on the Greenland Ice Sheet, where large areas of dark ice are clearly visible. The dark colour is due to a collection … Continue reading EGU Image of the Week: Algal blooms on GrIS
